Fox host Megyn Kelly rips Keith Ellison’s attack on Sean Hannity

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly on Wednesday blasted Rep. Keith Ellison for his attack on fellow host Sean Hannity, saying that a member of Congress coming across as so partisan and “clearly armed for a fight” makes it hard for Americans to trust their politicians.

Kelly, who addressed Hannity’s contentious interview during a segment on “America Live,” said Tuesday night’s exchange when the Minnesota Democrat called Hannity “the worst excuse for a journalist I’ve ever seen” and a “shill for the Republican Party” exemplifies the widespread unhappiness with Congress.

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“I understand that there’s a partisan divide, I think everybody understands that in Washington,” she said. “You look at the behavior of a U.S. congressman — a U.S. congressman — you know, ‘you are. I’m rubber, you’re glue.’ And he initiated that, he was the one pushing that. And I ask you whether this is the kind of exchange that leads people to say, ‘I cannot stand politicians. I don’t want to watch Washington, I don’t want anything to do with Washington.’ And they have, what, a nine percent approval rating in the Congress?”

“Here is what I see when I see that exchange — I think, this guy, do we trust this guy to negotiate with the Republicans?” Kelly added. “Do we think he could sit down with a Republican and strike a deal on this? And I’m sure there’s some obstinate Republican on the other side who is also going to give him a tough time. But it’s just the turn off. These are our elected representatives, these are the people we trust to get something done for us?”

After playing a clip of the explosive interview, Kelly’s first response was simply “wow.”

“Rep. Ellison clearly came armed for a fight,” she said. “He was invited on the program, he didn’t have to say yes, he chose to go on. And it was clear what he was doing there. He was trying to pick a fight with Sean for what reason I cannot speculate.”

It was completely unfair and “false” for the congressman to say that Obama has no responsibility for the sequester, Kelly said.

“Listen, the Republicans have plenty of blame when it comes to the sequester. Remember, Capitol Hill, how a bill becomes a law — Schoolhouse Rock — Congress has to pass it and the president has to sign it,” she said. “So the Republicans are guilty too, but president is also guilty, and for a U.S. congressman to go on Hannity’s show, a national broadcast, and tell the American people [the president] has no responsibility, that the president, it wasn’t his idea, is false.”

And Kelly pointed out Ellison’s reaction to the idea that Hannity might be a Republican doesn’t bode well for possible across the aisle compromises.

“He was so disgusted that Hannity might be a Republican,” she said. “And Hannity’s trying to make the point that ‘I’m not a Republican, I’m conservative.’ He was disgusted.”